Array camera targets mobile market

June 09, 2014 //
By Peter Clarke

LinX Computational Imaging Ltd., has developed an array camera for mobile equipment.

The multi-aperture system is based on building-block camera modules that can be tessellated together and these can provide superior imaging performance, depth of focus and extract depth information from a scene.

The camera modules are nearly half the height of a standard mobile camera. LinX has developed a variety of products ranging from arrays of two, three, and four cameras in various configurations and sizes, some with autofocus and others without.

LinX (Caesarea, Israel), founded in 2009 works with image sensor, lens and module manufacturers to create multi-aperture array cameras while supporting development of applications that utilize the depth information acquired by the LinX cameras. LinX cameras are expected to provide superior low light performance, SLR level dynamic range and color accuracy.

LinX was founded just one year after Pelican Imaging (Santa Clara, California), which is reported to have design wins for a 4 by 4 array camera. Pelican's pitch has always been that its camera would aenable new applications, introducing features such as 3-D depth, gesture control and the ability for users to interact with the image before and after capturing the shot, such as changing the depth of focus across the image.

Now LinX claims that its engineers have solved problems associated with combining images in array cameras, such as registration errors and occlusion-related artifacts, which are seen from competitors. LinX produced images are artifact-free, even when objects appear at very short range. The LinX camera allows blur-free image capture under standard indoor lighting conditions of 100 to 200 lux, the company claimed.